Indian Muslim Observer

By Samreen Hussain

The Muslim world is progressing at a rapid pace. However, as is the case with all religions, some segments are less progressive than others.

A nikah al-mutaá is a fixed, short-term marriage contract between a man and an unmarried woman with a pre-decided length of contract. In simple terms, it's a temporary marriage. A woman who enters such a contract assumes the status of a wife and all the rights of one.

Temporary marriages have a pre-Islami history before Islam, but remained legal under Islam for a long time and were most significantly established as part of the spread of Islam and to prevent men, who stayed away from home for long periods, from engaging in illicit relationships forbidden under Islam.

It was also a means of providing assistance to a woman undergoing difficulties and used at times to protect girls in early Arabia where the status of women in society was nonexistent.

However, certain sections of the Muslim society have been manipulating the terms for personal gains and desire.

Recently, the case of 17-year-old Nausheen Tobassum in Hyderabad, India, brought into much needed focus the prevalence of temporary marriages in the Indian Muslim society.

Nausheen was forcefully married to a middle-aged Sudanese man for $1,800. The marriage contract was for a period of four weeks. When the groom and her parents forced the child to consummate the marriage, she ran away and lodged a complaint with the police.

Further investigations revealed the widespread nature of these crimes. Some reports stated as many as 15 contract marriages are happening in a month in Hyderabad.

Hidden from the spotlight, temporary marriages have been taking place in the southern part of India, especially in the Muslim-dominated city of Hyderabad, where rich foreigners have been exploiting poverty-stricken Muslim families.

Rich men, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, marry young Muslim girls under the garb of Islam and pay off their families. As prostitution is forbidden under Islam, these contract marriages provide a convenient loophole.

In almost all cases, these arrangements are facilitated by the girl's parents and by marriage brokers who profit from the deal. Generally, the parents are poor and force their daughters into temporary marriages under the guise of religion to earn money.

The duration of the marriage is pre-decided, and the divorce proceedings are started at the time of marriage to hasten the process. Sometimes the marriage is for a month, sometimes for a week and at times just for one night.

Girls in the Indian subcontinent, primarily from the marginalized sections of the society, don't have much choice when it comes to temporary marriages. In some Islamic societies, young girls and even older women, including widows, readily choose temporary marriages so that they can live with their partners without fear of the strict Islamic laws of their country.

The Indian constitution, however, does not recognize temporary marriages and rightly deem them illegal as these marriages mostly involve girls younger than 18 years old.

One would've thought that temporary marriages had run their course. Such marriages have now become a way to sexually exploit female children, rather than a means to protect women, nullifying a significant reason for which they were established. And a majority of Indian imams denounce the legality of temporary marriages.

Religion is a strong factor in the lives of Indians, and many people look to their religious leaders for guidance. Thus, the process of misusing religion and exploiting certain loopholes can be abolished from the society with obligatory help from the spiritual leaders.

The clerics that conduct marriages can be trained better and held accountable. Divorce proceedings can be made more difficult to discourage short-term marriages and the exploitation arising from them. If religion is used for misguided purposes, we cannot blame religion itself, but the society that allows such exploitation.

(Courtesy: Global Times)

Mangalore: "Though BJP tried to divide votes of Muslims with the help of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Muslim voters in Dakshina Kannada used their right in favour of Congress wholeheartedly," said K Ashraf, former mayor of Mangalore City Corporation.

Thanking voters, Ashraf told reporters here on Thursday that said Muslims in coastal region are intelligent and they do not support organizations such as Popular Front of India and SDPI. "We are happy as Congress has won in seven constituencies out of eight in the district," he added.

Janardhan Poojary, former Union minister, had promised to provide one Kg rice at a cost of Re 1 for the poor during the campaign and Congress will keep up this promise, he said. "We will implement all the development projects mentioned in the manifesto and will support the newly elected Mangalore City South MLA JR Lobo and make Mangalore the second best city in the state," said Ashraf.

Ivan D'Souza, KPCC secretary, said that N Yogish Bhat, the four-time MLA from Mangalore City (South) who lost to Lobo, has no right to claim that projects that are going to be taken up and completed by the new Congress government are his. "He has said that projects initiated by him will be implemented soon. The projects he is speaking about, were conceptualized by earlier Congress governments and he had nothing new to offer," said Ivan.

(Courtesy: The Times of India)

BJP's Prime Ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi fails to cut ice with Karnataka voters as much-hyped Gujarat development model magic fails to work.

By Abdul Hafiz Lakhani

No one knows Narendra Modi outside Gujarat. It has been proved again by Karnataka elections. The outcome of much hyped Karnataka election was a foregone conclusion as BJP was seemingly downcast after Yediruppa episode. The interesting part in BJP's poll campaign was that whether Narendra Modi, aspirant for PMship from BJP could turn the tables or not and win Karnataka again for the BJP. But he did not bring smile to tje party as he himself failed in this litmus test. Expecting that Gujarat Chief Minister’s Narendra Modi’s magic will work in Karnataka was sheer stupidity by BJP rank and file.

One diffrence between Gujarat and Karnataka was Lokayukta. Karnataka has Lokayukta, whereas Gujarat has not. So the scandals of BJP government exposed this southern state --the gateway of BJP in the region. Now it should be understood that Modi is confined to just Gujarat and his magic will not work in any other part of the country now.

The BJP, clearly on the back foot at the end of a disastrous five-year reign in the State, desperately tried this last resort and failed. Enthused by the tremendous response to Modi’s first rally in Bangalore, he was persuaded to address two more meetings in urban Karnataka. When the Karnataka voters spoke, they rejected the BJP and ushered in the Congress, with 121 seats, nine above the required majority. Though it has got 40 seats over its 2008 tally, the Congress has not exactly swept Karnataka, as J. Jayalalithaa did in Tamil Nadu or Mamata Banerjee did West Bengal or Akhilesh Yadav accomplished in Uttar Pradesh.

That is because as Karnataka went to the polls, two Congress ministers at the Centre were in the dock over interfering with the CBI and corruption in the Railway Ministry. In Karnataka corruption, misgovernance, infighting, and finally former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyyurappa forming the KJP to not only split the BJP but also its vote bank, lost the BJP the only southern state in its kitty.

As counting began and the trends emerged, the ferocity with which knives were out for Modi was surprising. Of course, all Congress leaders on various channels gleefully taunted the BJP on the Modi magic wand failing to save them in Karnataka.

No surprise there. But the vehemence with which anchors on TV channels and their journalist guests pounced on hapless BJP leaders, urging them to “admit” that Modi did not have all-India appeal, was a little over the top. Karnataka was a state election fought on local issues related to both corruption and lack of governance. In the last few years Bangalore has worn the face of a city in decay, be it road maintenance, traffic management or garbage removal.

In a state with high literacy and a young urbanised work force, the frequent moral policing by goons of the Ram Sene who attacked pubs and manhandled young women in Mangalore was highly resented.

The vote is the weapon of the people and the BJP lost not only Mangalore but the whole state as well. Now to expect Modi to parachute into Karnataka and clear up the mess his BJP colleagues had created was asking for the moon.

After all public memory is not that short to wipe out murky images of several corruption charges against Yeddyurappa, the dilly-dallying on his removal as well as a response to the Reddy Brothers’ scam and the involvement of a top BJP leader at the Centre to protect the mining barons. And of course the changing of chief ministers.

But the problem is that Modi’s diehard fans, in and outside Gujarat, can’t accept a spade being called a spade when their hero is concerned.

For Congress, it was a bitter sweet victory. If Karnataka can reject BJP’s corruption and misgovernance today, the nation can follow suit in the Lok Sabha polls tomorrow.

The moot point is, however, something else. In Karnataka Muslims, and even to some extent Christian votes, might have gone against the BJP because of obvious reasons. But the BJP will have to answer as to why it lost power, notwithstanding campaign by Narendra Modi, in Himachal Pradesh in Oct last though the state has least percentage of Muslims anywhere in India. A little earlier in Jan 2012 the BJP lost Uttarakhand, with having very small Muslim population. True Modi did not campaign in the Assembly election in Uttarakhand yet his name was projected as the prime ministerial candidate at many places there too.

So in the states having more than 95 per cent Hindu population the BJP lost. Even Karnataka has just 12.2 per cent Muslims and 1.9 per cent Christians, which is much less than Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, UP or even Bihar. Thus the May 8 result is not the outcome of Hindu-Muslim polarization as some would try to make out.

So introspection has began in the Hindutva camp that the move to project Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate may backfire. Leaders like Lal Krishna Advani and Sushma Swaraj have already expressed their reservation. The NDA partner and the oldest secular ally, the Janata Dal (United), has got another opportunity to hit out at the Gujarat chief minister.

Modi himself refused to attend the parliamentary board meeting of the party in New Delhi on Wednesday on the pretext of tooth-ache. But the party sources said that the reason is something else. It was only recently that he was re-inducted into the parliamentary board with much pomp and show.

"It is a clear message that Modi failed despite the hype. People in Karnataka rejected the Modi brand of politics," Baroda based Social activist J.S.Bandukwala said. He further said that it was just a media hype, Modi could not transform crowd into votes.

All India Milli Council Gujarat state convener Mufti Rizwan Tarapuri said the Karnataka result had proved that Modi was not a winning factor for the BJP. "Modi's popularity was again tested after the Himachal polls but he failed to help the BJP," he said.

It may be noted that BJP's rout in Karnataka has taken some sheen off the party's poster boy Narendra Modi, who had been billed as a star vote-getter.

Modi addressed only three election rallies in Karnataka, but the BJP could not win even in those three places and macho Modi had to ultimately bite the dust and see his prime ministerial ambitions taking a nosedive.

[Abdul Hafiz Lakhaniis a senior Journalist based at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Gujarat). He can be reached at lakhani63@yahoo.com or on his cell 09228746770]

By Our Special Correspondent

Ever wondered what would facebook look like, if it was made for medical professionals? Ever
wondered if there was a social network that promoted intellectuality? Ever wondered if there was a website, which parents would encourage their children to browse? Well, dont just wonder, log on to Neuros. A professional social networking website for medical students, doctors and all other health care professionals that promotes both social networking and intellectual interactions, Definitely a network which even parents would approve.

Founded by Dr. Waiz Abdul Wasey and Ravi Kiran in late 2011, Neuros (http://www.neuros.org) has since then made quite an impression in the medical community. It is perhaps the only social network that has an integrated study center, connecting likewise professionals intellectually. “The idea is not just to help people connect socially, but to connect smarter as well,” said the founders.

Dr. Waiz Wasey, a medical doctor by profession and an IT enthusiast, has encouraged the inception of Neuros. Having teamed up with Ravi Kiran, a talented web developer, Neuros became a reality.

According to Dr. Wasey, people often just waste time on social networks, an addiction that cannot be broken easily. Through this initiative a smarter network that will benefit the users intellectually as well would be provided.

Neuros seeks to benefit the medical students and doctors by helping them use information
technology in the best possible way. Some striking features of the network are:

Solved Qbank -- Groups are created for different subjects with tabs categorized as stories, questions, photos and pages. All possible questions for that subject are uploaded and are being answered daily by merit students, PG students and professors. The users are also encouraged to answer or ask.

Groups -- The Groups are like pages on facebook but much more categorized, giving its users a well formatted platform to use for connecting and studying.

Clinical pictures -- Neuros is gathering and collecting a good base of medical clinical pictures from around the world, helping medical students learn more than they would during their internship or rotations.

Innovative approach -- A dedicated inhouse designing team guided by doctors creates illustrations, study aids, visuals and charts to help depict medical topics in the most creative and innovative approach.

Social components -- Neuros has all the basic social networking components – follow people, chat, write stories on wall or ask questions to one another.

Seeking to grow and benefit the medical community as much as possible, Neuros has created
a dedicated team working day and night to bring new features and interactivity to the website.
Medical MCQs for competitive exams, extended doctor profiles, membership clubs and video
library are next on the drawing board.

This innovative approach is being taken well by young Indians, and hopes to make a mark in the list of social networks launched from this great motherland pooled with talent.

By Danish Ahmad Khan

New Delhi: In a remarkable achievement two Muslim brothers from Gujarat Ayubkhan Babi and Dildarahmed I. Babi have invented a new magnetic device which promises to save the world from global warming and climate change.

The newly invented "Magnetic Fly Wheel", as the device is currently named, is also aimed at air pollution control as well as fuel efficiency.

Ayubkhan Babi said that he has already applied for the patent of "Magnetic Fly Wheel" vide Application No. 1397/MUM/2010.

Mr. Babi claims this invention to be the first of its kind in India, and probably the world.
The two brothers have electrical and mechanical engineering. They also have keen interest in the history of Islamic Science and Technology.

The invention is based on kinetic motion energy by rotating magnetic field. Mr. Ayubkhan Babi said that the invention would significantly help in saving fuel by 10 to 50 percent. It also helps in reducing pollution by 50 percent. The invention would also help save engine from warming and saves engine oil for a long time. The invention would also help save earth from global warming and climate change.

"The basic purpose of this invention is to save fuel, increase performance, increase average approximately 10 to 30 percent, pollution remains under control, reduces engine load and reduces warming of the engine," said Mr. Ayubkhan Babi.

The magnetic fly wheel device can be used in cycles, scooters, cars, buses, trucks, electric vehicles, electric motors, water pumps, handicap cycles, wind mills, generator sets, railways, earth movers equipments, agricultural equipments, and other kinds of movable machines.
The magnetic fly wheel device can be applied on either front or rear wheel without any changes in the model or engine. With the use of this device the vehicles have no jerks, are vibration free, gain extra pick up, and significant reduction in physical stress.

[Danish Ahmad Khan, a Delhi-based Journalist, is Founder-Editor of IndianMuslimObserver.com. He can be contacted at indianmuslimobserver@gmail.com or on his Mobile # +91 9868778453]

By Motaz Othman

In an inclusive interview at the Malaysia stand during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, H.E. Dato Mohd Khalid Harun, President of the Asean Tourism Association (ASEANTA) and the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), as well as Patron of the World Islamic Tourism Mart (WITM), confirmed that during WITM, held from June 6-9, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, the World Islamic Tourism Council will be announced and established.

In 2012, the World Islamic Tourism Mart and Malaysian International Tourism Exchange were organized separately by two organizations. This year I can see that you joined forces. Can you tell me more about this?

Yes, in fact both events have the same objective; having two events on the same date at two different venues was not beneficial to the travel and tourism industry of Malaysia. So Matta, my event WITM, the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, MYCeb, and the Islamic Tourism Center had decided to combine both these events which is now called WITM-MITE and will be held between June 6-9, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.

What was your idea and initiative behind organizing World Islamic Tourism Mart?

Muslim Tourism is a market segment that is fast growing not only in Malaysia but globally. Non-Muslim countries like Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, countries in Europe, are specifically catering to do this tourism segment, the Islamic tourism. There are close to 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide who are becoming more affluent and traveling with their families and friends. It used to be that Muslims travelled overseas for either Hajj and Umrah. Now they have learned to take time to travel. Now it's easier to find Halal food in non-Muslim countries; hotels are also trying to meet Muslim travelers’ demands by showing the Qa'aba direction for prayer. My event, the world Islamic Tourism Mart, is the ideal platform for tourism industry sectors to take part, meet, network, and create new opportunities to increase the capture of the Muslim tourism market segment.

Will there be a conference during WITM-MITE?

WITM-MITE will be a leading conference - a tourism trade and consumers event during the conference. We will announce and create the establishment of the World Islamic Tourism Council; as you know, councils are spread in the world, but there is no council for Islamic tourism, and we will start this and will invite all countries around the world to join and became as founder members. We will also invite all travel and tourism industry agents, hotels, airlines, and related associations to join the council and get the benefit from networking with its members, which we believe will support over 1.7 billion tourists around the world.

WITM-MITE has already drawn interest from many countries. China for example will participate with 27 provinces. As you know, China has over 20 million Muslims; Japan also - they launched Muslim travel package, as well as tens of countries world wide in addition to European and Middle East countries.

Imams are coming also for Makkah and Madinah, and Al Azhar will join us in the event, in addition to speakers from different parts of the world.

Qatar Airways and Malaysian Airlines are sponsoring the flights, and they will offer special prices for delegates.

What about Malaysia and the preparation for Ramadan?

We in Malaysia have prepared everything for Muslim travelers to come and spend the Holy month of Ramadan here - Halal food, accommodation, mosques - the month is very special for us. We invite all Muslims around the world to spend the month of Ramadan here in Malaysia, and also the non-Muslims to experience how we spend the Holy month. Travelers can also travel from here to China, Japan, and all Asean countries which they prepared special packages for Muslims tourists.

Do you still have stands available for new exhibitors?

We welcome all countries around the world to come and exhibit at the World Islamic Travel Mart and Malaysia International Tourism Exchange WITM-MITE to invite Muslims and tourists from all over the world to visit them.

Welcome to Malaysia; welcome to WITM-MITE 2013.

(Courtesy: eTurboNews.com)

For some, it was a barbaric way to treat animals. For others, it was great business.

By Vanessa Gera

Warsaw (Poland): For some, it was a barbaric way to treat animals. For others, it was great business.

Until January, slaughterhouses across Poland - a deeply Catholic nation - were the unlikely venues for the Islamic and Jewish slaughter of animals, which in both religions involves a swift cut to the throat of a conscious animal and death by bleeding.

Millions of euros were being made exporting the halal and kosher meat to countries like Egypt, Iran and Israel, as well as to Muslim and Jewish markets inside Europe.

In a victory for a growing animal rights movement, activists succeeded in getting a ban on such religious slaughter. But with economic decline deepening and exports seen as a possible salvation, the government faces pressure to get the practice reinstated legally - and is scrambling to do so.

Though Poland's own cuisine is heavy in pork, a meat banned by Jewish and Islamic laws, the country has cut out this niche business for itself in one example of the economic savvy Poland has shown since joining the European Union in 2004. Kosher and halal meat exports have grown between 20 and 30 percent per year in recent years as the largely agricultural country has capitalized on its low labor costs and a reputation for healthy farm animals.

"God gave us good food, good soil and good farm animals, and he gave the Muslim countries what they have under the surface - black gold," said Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, the top Muslim leader in Poland. "There are nations with big populations - like Egypt, the Arab countries, Indonesia - that need this food and don't have enough cattle to produce enough meat themselves."

The business has been overseen and encouraged by Poland's Jewish and Muslim communities, minorities that are very small but with a presence going back many centuries. Polish Jews once made up the world's largest Jewish population; though nearly wiped out in the Holocaust, the community is growing. Tatars, a Muslim people, also settled here centuries ago, and have been joined recently by Arab diplomats, businessmen and students.

The kosher and halal business had boomed until January, when the ban took effect following a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal. Though the actual slaughter was carried out by specially trained Muslim and Jewish officials, the industry also created thousands of supporting jobs for others.

Animal rights activists argue that killing animals without stunning them first causes unnecessary suffering to the animals. Jewish and Muslim leaders strongly disagree, and insist that their method is actually more humane, in part became it causes the animals to lose consciousness very fast. They argue that standard industrial slaughter involves pre-stunning that is sometimes not effective, leading to even greater suffering.

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, says Jewish tradition has always been concerned with the welfare of animals, noting, for instance, that it bans hunting and any senseless suffering.

"For close to 3,000 years, Jewish slaughter practices have been followed that minimize pain to the animal," Schudrich said.

Polish meat industry officials are hesitant to take sides on which slaughter method causes more suffering, with their focus firmly on economics.

The pro-market government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is also eager to get the business going again and has recently drafted a law that would reinstate religious slaughter while also adding some new protections for animals.

The law's fate now rests with parliament, which is due to debate and vote on it in the coming weeks. It is expected to pass since the government enjoys majority support in the assembly, but probably not without some heated debate. Lawmakers are under pressure from all sides, including from an animal rights movement that has grown stronger as the ex-communist country grows increasingly Westernized.

In the meantime, industry leaders warn that millions of euros and thousands of jobs could be lost if Poland doesn't re-legalize religious slaughter soon.

"Banning ritual slaughter was a cardinal mistake with huge consequences," said Witold Choinski, the head of Polskie Mieso, or Polish Meat, an organization that represents the interests of meat producers.

Choinski said there are no official figures on the financial losses so far, but the number is high: the industry is worth about 500 million euros ($650 million) per year to the Polish economy and it has been largely frozen for nearly half a year. About 100,000 tons of kosher or halal beef and 100,000 tons of poultry were exported annually before the ban - making up between 20 and 30 percent of Poland's beef exports and about 10 percent of poultry exports, Choinski said.

He says there is currently no production at all of the religiously slaughtered meat, though Miskiewicz and others say there is some small-scale production taking place in a legal gray zone.

Many of the Polish meat facilities which handle kosher and halal meat - usually in addition to traditional slaughter - have had to limit their overall production because of the ban, while major contracts with traders from the Middle East have been suspended, Choinski said.

Poland had been close to sealing major long-term contracts with Saudi Arabia, but these were abandoned because of the unclear legal situation. Meanwhile, many Polish companies that produce halal and kosher meat are on the verge of bankruptcy, and up to 6,000 workers could lose their jobs, he said.

"Poland can't afford this. Most meat production facilities are in small places without other places for people to work and this is dooming the economic prospects of people," he said. "But I think there will be a resolution because no government can allow 6,000 people to get laid off during an economic crisis."

For now, business is being picked up by producers in nearby countries, including Latvia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Miskiewicz said.

Bosnia is also working hard to position itself as an exporter of halal products. The country opened its first halal fair Wednesday in Sarajevo, welcoming representatives of the Islamic world to take a look at Bosnian products. Erdal Trhulj, Bosnia's regional industry minister, said the halal industry is growing worldwide, and that his country "aims to become a hub for halal industry in this part of Europe."

The debate surrounding the issue has lacked any overt anti-Jewish or anti-Islamic tones, though religious rights are also pressing concern for the minorities and a government that wants to maintain good ties with them.

Miskiewicz says there is a degree of unfairness in banning Jewish and Islamic slaughter when so many Polish Catholics follow a similar practice themselves at Christmas, when carp are slaughtered in homes across the nation without any pre-stunning.

(Courtesy: The Seatle Times)

By Ali al Shihabi

After the planes hit on 9/11, a myth-making industry was born.

“Why do they hate us?” was the first thought to cross horrified American minds.

Israel’s lobby, worried that she would be seen as having sowed the seeds of anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world, quickly came up with an alternative explanation: “They hate us for our freedoms—our way of life,” screamed the headlines. Promoted by friendly journalists, politicians, and academics, these slogans quickly drowned out all other competing theories and were eagerly picked up and trumpeted by right-wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh, and Islamophobes like Daniel Pipes, who went on to claim that Islamists want to impose sharia law on America.

Hollywood, not to be left out of all the fun, quickly jumped on the bandwagon with a slew of entertaining programs like 24; Sleeper Cell; Homeland; and others that amplified and capitalized on this paranoia.

Bin Laden, in fact, had no interest in changing the “American way of life.” He wanted instead to topple the Saudi monarchy and saw 9/11 as a way to permanently rupture the Saudi–US alliance, a goal he very nearly succeeded in accomplishing.

Islamists actually could not care less about imposing sharia law in the US. They want control of Arabia, its oil and its holy places, and any other Muslim-majority state they can get their hands on in the meantime. Their target, their obsession, was the Muslim world not America. Islamophobes, however, striving to keep Americans on edge, claimed to spot “homegrown” radical Islam lurking behind every tree.

In fact, a careful review of events since 9/11 proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that the claim that militant Islam has gained any traction among the Muslims of America is farcical.

Had militant Islam actually taken hold in America, this country would have become a battle zone. After all, with millions of Muslims in the US, the successful spread of any such ideology among them would have resulted in thousands of recruits, hooked on jihadist websites, eagerly building bombs, and champing at the bit to commit acts of terrorism. Such numbers could have turned a city like New York into another Baghdad. Instead, the number of terror attacks in the US involving Muslims, over the course of more than a decade, are fewer than the fingers of one hand. The numbers here just do not add up to justify any credible claim of an Islamist war of terror on American soil.

In fact, the two major events since 9/11—first, Major Hasan’s shooting of fellow soldiers at an army base, and second, the recent Boston bombing—are little more than horrible criminal acts carried out by disturbed, maladjusted individuals, very similar to the Columbine and Newtown school shootings. The perpetrators’ motives and actions are better explained by psychologists than by those so-called “terrorism experts” who have sprung up in abundance in recent years to feed on and perpetuate this narrative. These so-called “Islamic terrorists” had no organization behind them, no training, and nothing but some superficial exposure to jihadi websites. Had they had any meaningful support, then these criminals would not have carried out their atrocities in the amateurish way that they did and gotten caught so easily.

As Philip Mudd, former deputy director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, told Charlie Rose in a recent interview about the Boston bombers, “I don’t necessarily think these are real jihadi terrorists. I think they are angry kids. … They may have some vague religious notions,” he added, but, “psychologically, this has characteristics of Columbine as much as characteristics of al-Qaeda.”

The problem here is that criminal acts, however outrageous, are no match for Islamic terrorism in the excitement department. People are used to crime, but Islamic terrorism still gets the adrenaline pumping and television ratings shooting up.

Manufacturing local Islamic terrorism, either through FBI sting operations or through rebranding criminal acts by Muslims as acts of Islamic terrorism, does the United States no service and causes public confusion, unnecessary anxiety, and a misallocation of valuable government resources.

Which brings me to a final tidbit for those eager conspiracy theorists among us. This Islamic terrorism phenomenon is tailor-made for “false flag” operations. Any intelligence agency or covert organization worth its salt can set up an “imam” to dupe some fools into committing terrorist acts, with virtually no possibility that anyone will be able to trace this action back to the source. Barriers to entry in the jihadi imam recruiting department are very low, and the characters duped into this sordid business are hardly going to be the brightest blades on the block. Identifying malcontented, disturbed individuals to target is no difficult task, either. In fact, the older Tsarneyev brother’s recent visit to Russia is certainly worthy of extreme scrutiny, if such a thing is at all possible.

Can any such incidents be false flag operations? We may never know, or at least not until Oliver Stone comes along and figures this out for us in a new blockbuster movie.

(Courtesy: AliShihabi.com)

Since the accession to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, scepticism has prevailed in relations between Riyadh and Cairo

By Hicham Mourad

Although the new Egyptian regime immediately displayed its willingness to continue the alliance forged between Cairo and Riyadh in the Mubarak era, Saudi leaders, despite the economic aid offered and the diplomatic formulas used, remain at least cautious vis-à-vis the new masters of Egypt.
The Egyptian head of state reserved his first foreign visit for Saudi Arabia, in July. He used the occasion to emphasise that his country is not seeking to "export" its revolution beyond its borders. The message was twofold: Egypt will not attempt to encourage opposition in neighbouring countries to overthrow political regimes, or provide support for the installation of Islamist regimes, from the Muslim Brotherhood. These assurances were clearly not enough to allay the concerns of the Saudi royal family, however, about the intentions of the Brotherhood, nor on the political situation in Egypt.

The position of Riyadh was somewhat surprising, given the support offered by the ruling Al-Saud family to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Arab Islamist movements in general, since the time of former President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 60s, where Nasser tried through an active foreign policy to export socialism and Arab nationalism — hostile to the West — to the Arab world. The assistance of Saudi Arabia to the Brotherhood took various forms, including political asylum granted to members of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt and other nationalities, such as Syrians and Jordanians, as well as funding the creation of Islamic charities in which the Muslim Brotherhood played a major role, as with the Muslim World League, founded in Mecca in 1962, and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, created in Jeddah in 1972. Both organisations were used to proselytise in favor of Wahhabism, the religious doctrine of Saudi Arabia, but at the same time served the propaganda of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Although Saudi Arabia adopted Wahhabism — a form of Salafism, purified, austere, puritanical, and rigorous as a religious doctrine — it supported the Muslim Brotherhood movement, whose doctrine, more flexible, seeks to reconcile Islamic tradition and Western political experience, to counter socialism and Nasserism in the Arab world.

The same goal was followed by President Anwar El-Sadat in the 1970s to remove Nasser's legacy and support the change of Egypt's external alliances towards the West and the Gulf oil monarchies. Saudi Arabia continued as well after the death of Nasser to lend its support to the Muslim Brotherhood, as long as it served its interest to fight liberal and secular forces and support the role of religion in politics. It was perceived and used as a tool of its foreign policy.

This alliance of circumstance does not rule out that Al-Saud family was sceptical about the Brotherhood and its doctrine. This cautious Saudi approach began early, in the late '40s, when the Muslim Brotherhood began to expand outside of Egypt in several Arab countries. The Al-Saud family saw the activist and "republican" formula of Islam promoted by the Brotherhood as a threat to the absolute monarchy formula established in Saudi Arabia, which advocates popular obedience and prohibits revolt against the political regime.

At the time, the Brotherhood movement's founder, Hassan Al-Banna, asked King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud permission to open a branch of the Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia, but the founder of the Saudi monarchy, which prohibits any kind of political party or movement, politely declined. Nevertheless, the Muslim Brotherhood managed to spread its doctrine in the Arabian Peninsula, particularly through immigration of members of the movement who fled the Nasser regime.

The first real shock that hit the relationship between Riyadh and the Brotherhood took place following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. While Saudi Arabia relied on the US to liberate the occupied emirate and to ensure its own security against the threat of Saddam Hussein, the Muslim Brotherhood opposed Western intervention. This position was interpreted as a sign of ingratitude. Following the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Saudi Arabia witnessed the appearance of the first opposition movement, Al-Sahwa (Awakening), which challenged throughout the 90s the absolute monarchy of Al-Saud and called for political reforms. Some Saudi leaders accused the Brotherhood of being Al-Sahwa's inspiration.

The second shock, more violent, that hit the relationship between the Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia came following the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Some 15 of the 19 alleged attackers were Saudis. Part of Saudi's rulers threw the blame for this "deviation" of some young Saudis on the doctrinal activism advocated by the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly their most famous ideologue, Sayed Qutb, hanged by the Nasser regime in 1966. The Saudi interior minister at the time, and the crown prince from October 2011 until his death on 16 June 2012, Nayef Bin Abdel-Aziz, accused the Muslim Brotherhood in 2002 of being the origin of most problems in the Arab world.

"The Brotherhood has done great damage to Saudi Arabia ... All our problems come from the Muslim Brotherhood ... The Muslim Brotherhood has destroyed the Arab world," he said firmly.

However, the danger perceived by Al-Saud family from the Muslim Brotherhood remained remote, as the movement was in opposition. Its coming to power in Egypt and Tunisia — and perhaps tomorrow in Syria — thanks to unexpected popular uprisings, completely changed the situation. Hence the attitude of the less reserved Saudi authorities vis-à-vis the new regime in Egypt. Riyadh fears that the rise to power of the Brotherhood encourages Islamist opposition inspired by that movement to resume activities within the kingdom.

The arrest in the United Arab Emirates in late 2012 of 11 Egyptians accused of forming a Brotherhood cell to help overthrow the UAE regime only reinforced these fears.

But far from the alleged plots against the Gulf States, the Saudi ruling family perceives the Brotherhood and its doctrine as an ideological rival to Wahhabism, which may spread and sow discord in the kingdom or threaten the monarchy. It is not surprising in this context that several reports underlined Saudi financial support for the Egyptian Salafist current in the last parliamentary elections in late 2011.

The perception of danger also has a regional dimension, as some Saudi leaders feared the rise of an alliance between Egypt, Turkey and Qatar — the only Gulf state to maintain close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood — which may reduce the dominant regional influence Saudi Arabia had exercised through its alliance with Mubarak's Egypt and Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad.

(Courtesy: Ahram Online)

Jihadists raged in Dhaka, vandalizing businesses and desecrating sacred books and religious artifacts.

By Kamran R Chowdhury

Dhaka: Reeling from the worst industrial tragedy in its history in which more than 1,100 garment workers died, Bangladesh was dealt another blow May 5th when a group of radical Islamists mounted a violent shut-down of the capital, injecting a fresh wave of instability and economic suffering into a country that can ill afford it.

Tens of thousands of stick-wielding Hefajat-e-Islam activists, chanting Jihadi slogans, stormed into Dhaka's commercial hub Motijheel, aiming to force the government to enact an anti-blasphemy law and end what it calls the "free mixing of men and women" in society.

The relatively unknown group wants to see execution of "atheist bloggers" who organised the secular Shahbagh protest movement against the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, now on trial for their anti-liberation activities in 1971.

Opposed to women's rights, the Hefajat activists are also urging the government to pull out of the UN convention on ending discrimination against women.

The protestors -- mainly students and teachers of unregulated Qawmi Madrasas dotted across the country – marched towards the Motijheel commercial area after the government refused to kowtow to their demands.

The marchers raged the concrete road dividers, uprooted the automatic traffic signals, cut trees down, burned private cars and buses, vandalised ATM booths, and stole air conditioners from banks and other offices.

At least 36 people died, and hundreds more were injured, in some of the fiercest street violence for decades, as police clashed with the hardliners in an effort to flush them from city streets.

Appalled Bangladeshis said they had not witnessed such carnage and mayhem in the heart of Dhaka since the Liberation War. Hefajat-e-Islam denies it incited its members to violence, but few residents of the capital appear convinced.

"Hefajat's activities really remind us the horrendous crimes committed by the Pakistan forces in 1971," Abdul Jabbar, a freedom fighter from Southwestern Barguna district, told Khabar South Asia, after surveying the scene of the 12-hour inferno.

"Their dream of making Bangladesh an Islamic state will never come true. They must face exemplary punishment to stop its unlawful action," he said.

Qur'an burned?

In the midst of the chaos, even the market complex in and around the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque was ravaged. Black smoke obscured glossy shop facades in the bracket-shaped market, packed with showrooms hawking jewellery, air conditioners, home appliances, travel kits and other costly items.

But Bangladeshis were most outraged by the destruction of religious items in the market, where over 600 hawkers sell the Qur'an and religious books, Islamic caps, beads, perfume, and other items used by pious Muslims who come to the national mosque for prayers.

"What Hefajat did was not possible even for the atheists and nonbelievers: they set the Holy Qur'an on fire. Is this Islam? They are the enemies of Islam," Harunur Rashid, the general secretary of Bangladesh Hawkers Association, told Khabar.

"I have seen many [incidents of] political violence around Baitul Mukarram, but nobody even thought of hurting us, as we sold the Qur'an and Islamic items," added hawker Mohammad Delwar.

Muhammad Shafiq Ahad, chairman of the Islamic Studies department at Dhaka University, told Khabar that Hefajat's violence in no way conforms to the teachings of Holy Qur'an and Hadith.

"The Qur'an strictly prohibits violence and damage of any properties; the perpetrators must face punishment in line with the Qur'an," he said.

Moulana Abul Khayer, an imam at a mosque in northern Dinajpur district, told Khabar that the protestors' actions would be grounds for execution under the very blasphemy law they are seeking.

"Islam never condones violence and extremism," he said.

(Courtesy: Khabar South Asia)

Paris: The French Muslim Council (CFCM) voted to start using astronomical calculations to set the date rather than relying on the naked eye to sight the new crescent moon.

France's Muslim leaders have agreed to end almost 1,400 years of Islamic tradition and use modern astronomy to determine the start of the holy month of Ramadan and other Islamic holidays.

The French Muslim Council (CFCM) voted on Thursday to start using astronomical calculations to set the date rather than relying on the naked eye to sight the new crescent moon.

Ramadan traditionally begins the morning after the sighting, which has in the past been delayed by a day or even two by weather.

Council President Mohammad Moussaoui said the old method played havoc with French Muslims' schedules for work, school and festivities. France's five million Muslims are the largest Islamic minority in Europe.

"Now all this will be simplified," he said, and promptly announced the Ramadan fast would begin on July 9 this year.

Turkey began using scientific calculations to set the start of Ramadan decades ago. Muslims in Germany, who are mostly of Turkish origin, and those in Bosnia also use this method.

Muslim minorities elsewhere in Europe often start Ramadan according to its beginning in their countries of origin, or in Saudi Arabia. That can lead to different ethnic groups starting it on different days, even in the same country.

"This is historic. Now all Muslims in France can start Ramadan on the same day," said Lyon Muslim leader Azzedine Gaci.

Muslim scientists have been arguing for using astronomy to determine Islamic dates for years, especially now that globalised communications make it increasingly awkward for different countries to start Ramadan on different days.

The Islamic lunar calendar is 10 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar developed in Europe, so the dates for Ramadan fall a week and a half earlier as each year in the western calendar passes.

Moussaoui said French Muslims were not planning to ask for their holidays to be included in the national calendar.

"It would be more important for us that they are taken into consideration, that's all," he said.

(Courtesy: World Bulletin)

By Tariq A. Al-Maeena

There is a fever in the air, generated by the recent crackdown by the passport department and officials from the Ministry of Labor on the status of illegal residents or those expatriates with residency violations. Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in his benevolence has allowed a grace period of three months for those with suspect papers to get them corrected.

While new rules have been announced to ease the burden on hundreds of thousands of residency violators, there seems to be a group that feels ignored and left on the sidelines without much hope of retribution. In the case of one expatriate who finds herself in such a situation, it demands sympathy for the predicament she finds herself in. But I shall leave my readers to judge that for themselves.

Her story goes as follows: “Good Morning, Mr. Tariq. I do not usually write letters to newspapers but in this instance I found that I had to ask this question to be addressed. I met and married my Saudi husband in 1988 and left my country and family to come to Saudi Arabia to live. My husband passed away in 2002, may God have mercy on his soul. I have one daughter from my husband who is now 13.

“After he died I could not renew my iqama for 5 years due to sensitive issues I was experiencing with my in-laws. They were not very cooperative or sincere to me or to my daughter. I finally had to write the governor of Riyadh for permission to transfer my iqama to an old family friend, which he granted. Our old family friend passed away approximately three months ago due to age and ailing health, Allah bless his soul.

“So now I am in the same boat so to speak. I have to search and look for someone to sponsor me again and transfer my sponsorship to them which is not easy in this present climate of Saudization. I completely understand and support the drive for Saudization. However, I wish that the government would address and look at the situation of women that have come here for marriage and not for economic gain.

“For after a person, and it could be any person, spends a certain amount of time in any place, they inherit their friends, their place in society, and their sense of well being and security. I believe there is an Arabic saying that says that if you spend 40 days with some people you become like them. Well, I have spent almost 25 years of my life here and would like to feel a bit more secure about my situation than someone who has just come to this country for work.

“Today I find myself in a very vulnerable position as a mother of a 13-year-old girl and a widow expatriate without a sponsor. I am not sure how the laws will apply in this particular case but what if I fail to find a sponsor before the grace period runs out; someone kind enough to understand my dire straits and do the honorable thing of granting myself and my daughter unconditional sponsorship without unreasonable demands?

“It is not easy to find such sponsors. Especially under the current climate where many are afraid to lend their names to any expatriate. It would have to be one of my husband’s relatives or associates, but as I had said earlier, it certainly would not be anyone from his family. They were against the marriage from the start, and went out of their way to try to break our marriage. It was only my husband’s devotion to me and our little girl that prevented them from succeeding. Now they blame me for his early death, not realizing the empty hole of my existence each waking moment.

“But I have to put my misery to the side and seek a solution. I fear the outcome if I cannot succeed. Would that mean that the country I spent many years in with my Saudi husband and raised my little girl would no longer be home and that I would be forced out? Is that fair and just? We have broken no laws. We were simply deserted. I am sure there are other women in similar situations like mine, but there isn’t much clarity in the news about how our situation can be alleviated without separation from the land we have come to call home.

“My hope in writing this letter to you is that perhaps you can take your eloquent pen and write an article that might address this situation. Thank you for your taking your time to read my letter. Sincerely, C.”

That was indeed a difficult letter to put down. The loss from the death of a spouse is hard enough to bear but the double whammy of not being secure of one’s residency is a staggering load of concern. I wish I could address her uncertainties with complete reassurance, but the truth of the matter is that I myself do not have the answers for someone in her situation. If some reader does, then perhaps they could enlighten us all.

[The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena]

(Courtesy: Saudi Gazette)

By Mateen Hafeez

Mumbai: The country's premier anti-terror agency is set to file a chargesheet against four ultra-right Hindu activists for carrying out the 2006 Malegaon blasts. The National Investigation Agency's (NIA) probe has knocked the bottom off the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad's (ATS) case that members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India ( SIMI) had carried out the attack.

The chargesheet is expected to be filed any time this week. The blasts in the textile town on September 8, 2006, when people had gathered to observe the Shab-e-Baraat, had killed 37 people and injured 297.

The NIA, which started the probe in April 2011 on the Union home ministry's orders, has so far arrested four people — Dhan Singh, Lokesh Sharma, Manohar Singh and Rajendra Chaudhary — for the blasts. Three others, Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangra and Raj Mehul, are wanted in the case. The agency says Chaudhary, Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Kalsangra planted the bombs.

A senior NIA official in Delhi refused to give more details citing the sensitivity of the case. Sharma, who is also an accused in the Samjhauta Express blast in 2007, and Chaudhary were members of the Bajrang Dal.

"There cannot be two sets of accused in one crime," said an NIA officer, adding the agency was examining if there was a larger conspiracy involved. Another officer said the agency might ask the court to dismiss the charges against the nine people arrested by the ATS. All were granted bail in November 2011.

On Friday, the NIA recorded the statement of Mohammed Atif, a prime witness in the case. The ATS had said Atif had witnessed the attackers making the bomb and later hid in the godown of one of the accused. Atif later told a court in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh that he was forced to give the statement.

The NIA says the decision to bomb the textile town was taken by senior members of the right-wing Hindu module, including former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, who was later murdered allegedly by his own accomplices; Kalsangra; and Dange. Kalsangra and Sharma were tasked with the execution, and they asked Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Manohar Singh to plant the bombs.

The agency says the team first recced Malegaon to identify targets. On the day of the blasts, Sharma drove the team to Malegaon, where Kalsangra gave them the RDX explosive and also clothes to disguise themselves as pious Muslims. Kalsangra accompanied Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Chaudhary to place the bombs on bicycles at spots near the Hamidiya mosque at Bada Qabristan where many people had gathered. Sharma then drove them back to Indore.

The ATS — led by then joint commissioner K P Raghuvanshi and DIG Subodh Jaiswal — filed a chargesheet in the case on December 21 the same year. It had taken just 54 days to file the chargesheet; usually it can take up to 180 days in such cases. The Central Bureau of Investigation, after its own probe, had endorsed the ATS findings.

The NIA, set up in 2009, post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, can deal with terror-related crimes without any special permission from state governments. The agency focused on Hindu right-wing groups after a confession by Swami Aseemanand, arrested in the 2007 Hyderabad Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, it told the court last November. The agency has a Rs 10 lakh reward for Kalsangra and Dange.

Malegaon had seen another attack in 2008 allegedly by right-wing Hindu groups. Sadhvi Pragya Singh and former Lt Col Srikant Purohit were later arrested in connection with that attack.

ATS's claims in 2006

* Blasts were carried out by Muslim youths in an attempt to spark communal riots

* The RDX for the bombs came from Pakistan and a Pakistani national, Muzammil, assembled them in Malegaon

* A bomb each was planted by accused Noor-ul-Huda, Raees Ali and Abrar Ahmed

* Zahid Majeed, an imam from Yavatmal, planted a bomb and returned the same day. (About 250 Yavatmal residents filed affidavits, saying Majeed was in the town at the time)

* Shabbir Masiullah, a battery shop owner, was part of the conspiracy. (At the time of the blasts, he was in the custody of the Mumbai crime branch in another case)

NIA claims

* The RDX was procured in India. The explosives were allegedly planted by Dhan Singh, Rajender Chaudhary, Ramji Kalsangra and Manohar Singh. Dhan Singh also connected with the Samjhauta Express and 2008 Malegaon blasts

* Another Samjhauta blast accused, Lokesh Sharma, provided logistical support

* The blasts were plotted by former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange, and others. Kalsangra and Sharma tasked with the execution

* Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Manohar Singh recced Malegaon to identify the targets

Legal Angle

Prominent criminal lawyer Majeed Memon, who represented several 1993 bomb blast accused in court, said two ideologically diagonally opposite groups cannot be responsible for a particular terror attack. Truth cannot have two faces. "The NIA has to necessarily discharge the earlier set of boys in this case, who were wrongly believed to be involved."

(Courtesy: The Times of India)

New Delhi: Amidst demand for expeditious trial of terror cases involving Muslim youth, the Union Home Ministry has asked all states to set up fast track courts to take up such cases for speedy disposal.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the Centre has sent an advisory to all states and is also trying to find out how many Muslim inmates (involved in terror cases) were in jail and for how many years they have been languishing in prisons.

"We are trying to find out the facts. It will take time. We have asked the states to set up fast track courts," he said at a press conference here. Minister of State for Home RPN Singh had informed Parliament last fortnight that under the NIA Act, the Central government has set up the 39 special courts to take up terror-related cases.

The Centre has sent an advisory to all states and is also trying to find out how many Muslim inmates (involved in terror cases) were in jail and for how many years.

The move came three months after Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan had expressed concern to Shinde over "wrong arrests" of Muslim youths in different parts of the country in terror cases. Apprising the Home Ministry of the concerns expressed by various Muslim bodies that the "draconian" provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act can be misused against minorities, Khan had proposed setting up of special courts to ensure speedy trial of all terror cases.

Fully backing the Minority Affairs Minister's suggestion of setting up of special courts, Shinde wrote back to him saying "you have my assurance that this will happen."

(Courtesy: PTI, May 15, 2013)

IMO News Service

New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has finally acted on the appeal of Ravi Nitesh on behalf of Mission Bhartiyam and asked Rajasthan government to sumbit a report on a series of communal violence. The NHRC has directed the Rajasthan gvernment to submit is report within a month.

Communal violence took place in Nimaj town of Jaipur in the last week of April after which curfew was imposed. It was reported that jeeps and bikes were damaged and set a fire, several houses and shops also get damaged.

"Though I do not have any doubt over the administration, but I also want to appeal to NHRC to look in the 'series of communal violence' taking place in Rajasthan. As per reports, case in Nimaj is the sixth such incident in April alone. Similar cases have been reported over the last three weeks from Sanganer, Makrana, Sarwar, Udaipur and Baran, " said Ravi Nitesh.

Mission Bhartiyam has demanded for a fair investigation and reasons of series of communal violence and compensation to victims.

"These incidents on one side responsible to loss of lives and materials, injuries and deforming social harmony, it automatically becomes the matter of human rights violations where responsibility of state matters to provide a safe environment for all, to provide justice to victims and to prevent such incidents," said Mr. Nitesh.

By Pervez Bari

Kolkata: Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) will intensify campaign for the release of Muslims, tribals and rights activists languishing in jails being falsely accused of terror charges under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA), and other anti-people laws.

The SDPI has been highlighting the issue through various programmes since last one year. The new phase of nationwide political campaign under the caption “Release the terror accused innocents; Repeal the terror law UAPA” will begin with a mass rally at Jamia Nagar in New Delhi next month on June 9th. This decision was taken in the National Working Committee, (NWC), meeting of the party which was held at Kolkata on May. The NWC meeting was presided over by the national president A. Sayeed.

The meeting observed that a large number of innocent persons remain in prisons and their trials are indefinitely delayed. It is revealed by study reports that in all states the percentage of Muslim prisoners far exceeds their population percentage. Along with Muslims, tribals and right activists are also being imprisoned falsely implicating in extremism cases in some parts of the country. They are repeatedly denied bail in the name of UAPA provisions even after no concrete evidence could be produced to justify their detention. The campaign will cover majority of states and will include programmes like pamphlet distribution, protest rallies and public meetings in the following months.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing National Reservation Campaign which was inaugurated on April 14th, the Social Justice Day, at Kolkata. The Central Government and majority of state governments are not ready to give reservation to Muslims and other religious minorities though Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report has recommended the same that was tabled in the parliament as back as December 2009. Other than the lip services repeatedly offered by a few minority leaders of the Congress party, the UPA government has not yet initiated any steps for its implementation. Other political parties also are not showing any interest in the issue of Muslim reservation. The fact that the Parliament has not even witnessed a serious discussion about the issue illustrates the apathy of mainstream political parties. On the state governments level, the moves seen in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal has also proved to be mere political gimmicks to gather Muslim votes. The NWC meeting of SDPI has decided to keep the issue alive and mobilize masses in different states so that the demand for Muslim Reservation will be a forefront issue at the time of next Lok Sabha elections.

Those who took part in the discussions were Samkutty Jackob (National Vice President), Prof. Naznin Begum (National Vice President), Hafiz Manzoor Ali Khan (National Vice President), Adv. Sajid Siddiqui (National Treasurer), Afsar Pasha (National General Secretary), Abdul Majeed Faizy (National General Secretary), E. Abubacker (Ex-President SDPI), Mrs. Yasmin Farooqui, and other national and states leaders.

[Pervez Bariis a senior Journalist based at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He is associated with IndianMuslimObserver.com as Bureau Chief (Madhya Pradesh). He can be contacted at pervezbari@yahoo.co.in]

By Nupur Acharya

Srinagar: Kashmir is possibly one of the most beautiful places in the world and shouldn’t need much help attracting tourists. But two decades of militancy and strife in India’s northernmost state and a recent return to violence after a few years of relative calm, mean officials have to go to special efforts to entice tourists to visit.

With that in mind, India’s government is holding a two-week long event, Kashmir Festival 2013, to promote tourism and attempt to boost an economy that relies heavily on the tourist dollar.

The festival, which began Monday, will run until May 29 and covers many destinations, some of which have yet to make it onto tourists’ maps. Organizers say it is the first time the event has been held over such a long period and on such a large scale. Previously it lasted a few days and was restricted to a couple of locations, they said.

“The festival is a way of showcasing the adventure spirit of the region,” said Mehmoob Ahmed, the chief executive of the development authority at Gulmarg, a popular mountain resort.

Kashmir’s stunning natural beauty — think snow topped Himalayan peaks, evergreen forests and fresh mountain air – is the ideal setting for activities like trekking, cycling, paragliding and rafting, which are all on offer during the fortnight.

The festival will be held in Sringar, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonmarg and the less well known regions of Yousmarg, Manasbal, Doodhpathri, and Lolab Valley. Activities laid on include Shikara (a kind of wooden boat) races, canoeing, painting, swimming competitions and horse races. Some hotels are reported to be offering a 20% festival discount on rooms and the state’s tourism minister has offered the same reduction on Air India tickets for those flying to the state during the festival.

It will also showcase the culture of Jammu and Kashmir with music and dance by the cultural troupes of the state.

Tourism is one of the major sources of livelihood in the region apart from smaller industries involving agriculture produce or handicrafts.

But travelers tend to visit the cold and barren regions of Leh in Ladakh or Hindu pilgrims make a short stop-over in Srinagar before heading to the shrine of Amarnath, 141 kilometers away.

They have kept away from other areas in Kashmir mainly out of fear caused by regular incidents of violence and militancy in the area.

Efforts to establish peace in recent years however were bearing fruit and, barring small incidents, the region has seen a sustained period of peace since the decade began.

In 2012, about 1.5 million tourists visited the region, excluding the pilgrims to Amarnath, Mr. Ahmed said.

But this year, the summer season faced a setback after the Indian government executed Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man sentenced to death for his role in a terror attack on India’s Parliament in 2001 in February. This led to large scale protests in the region.

In March, in one of the only major attacks in last three years, five soldiers were killed, leading to a large number of cancellations from holiday makers.

“We were set to have a record year (in tourist arrivals) but the Afzal Guru hanging impacted the season. However, we are very hopeful that these activities would revive the tourist flow,” Mr Ahmed said, while declining to share the number of tourist arrivals to date. The season indeed is heating up as the rising mercury levels in the plains further south are making the mountains look ever more appealing.

On a recent Tuesday, at the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, the road was full of honking cars and vans lined up bumper to bumper at 9 pm.

The pavements were crowded with tourists wearing light woolens, the balloon sellers were doing brisk business while the houseboat operators made sales pitches to young couples on their honeymoon.

A few years back, the markets would have been deserted before nightfall and an army personnel decked in battle fatigues and guns would have been patrolling the area. A curfew after Mr. Guru’s execution would have made evening strolls impossible a few months ago. But locals hope that the festival will bring people back to the area and rehabilitate the state’s image.

“Our aim is to form a friendly bond with the tourists so that they go back remembering our hospitality and come back again,” said Mushtaq Ahmed Batt, a tourist cab driver. Mr Batt, 45, lost his son in one of the many cross firing incidents between the army and the militants in mid-1990s and hopes for a better future for his surviving daughter.

The sustained efforts towards peace and relative stability in recent years has attracted big hotel chains to invest in the region.

In 2011, the Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. opened a branch of their famous Taj chain in Srinagar. The Taj Vivanta Hotel was the second five-star hotel in the city after The Lalit Grand.

Another famous hotel chain, Sarovar Portico, recently took over the management of Royal Khazil City Forest Hotel. Airlines GoAirlines (India) Pvt Ltd and Indigo have also recently started daily direct flights between Srinagar and Mumbai, which is helping to draw many tourists from Maharashtra.

Aqil Nedous, the owner of the heritage 125-year old Nedous Hotel in Gulmarg and the Orchard Villas in Srinagar, is a fifth-generation Kashmiri hotelier.

A decade ago, Mr. Aqil says he was contemplating quitting the business as militancy was rife, tarring Kashmir’s image as the “Venice of East.”

“Kashmir today is as risky as a Delhi or a Mumbai,” Mr. Nedous told The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time.

In the last couple of years, concerted efforts have been made to revive tourism.

“Last year we had almost 5000 tourist arrivals per day in the peak season,” he says.

The peace in the valley has also improved prospects for Nedous Hotels, which has entered into a tie-up with five-star hotel chain ITC Ltd. to develop a 190-room heritage property in Srinagar, Mr. Nedous said.

“The government should start international flights and promote Kashmir tourism in countries like Dubai,” he added.

Mr Nedous and cab driver Mr Batt both think Kashmir’s image is vulnerable to negative portrayals in the media.

“Television media blows even a small incident out of proportion without realizing that it impacts the livelihood of thousands,” said Mr. Nedous.

Mr Batt, is also critical of the portrayal of Kashmir on local television channels. “The media reports show as if every locality is involved in creating disturbance, when all what a local Kashmiri is trying to do is eek out a living,” he said.

Efforts to improve Kashmir’s reputation as an international tourist destination will be given a further boost in the fall when the first Kashmir festival is held in Washington D.C. organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, according to reports.

(Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal)

By Shujaat Bukhari

For a while now, Kashmir’s educated youth had locked their destiny in two career options. They either wanted to join medicine or become engineers. Job security and a symbol of status in society were perhaps the two main reasons which would lure a young boy or girl or their parents to push for these two choices. Kashmir has produced a number of internationally reputed doctors and technocrats who mostly made their name outside India. However, with saturation in the field of engineering and medicine and then limited scope for getting suitable jobs, youngsters inclinations for these careers dropped drastically in the previous years.

With management becoming another area of interest for many youth, particularly for those who opted to study out of Kashmir, the Civil Services is fast becoming a favourite career option with them. Not only are educated youth trying their luck in the local state civil service commonly known as Kashmir Administration Service (KAS), they have also been treading on a relatively challenging path of cracking the prestigious All India Civil Services, better known as Indian Administrative Service (IAS). The past few years have seen many Kashmiris, particularly Muslims, trying to join the elite services. This is significant for more than one reason.

One, the level of alienation of Kashmiri youth with the rest of India has been increasing and finally the capabilities of these young boys and girls is being recognised by the world. When the results of the Civil Services Examination-2012 conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) were announced on May 2, it was a bag full of surprises for Kashmir. This time, 11 candidates – out of them eight from Kashmir alone – cracked the examination to take their place in the highest echelon of bureaucracy. A few of them had tried a second time to improve their ranks. Interestingly, out of four Muslims across India who figured in first 100, three were from Kashmir.

This spectacular achievement of Kashmiri Muslims for the IAS is linked to the euphoria (or many call it, simple interest) that was generated by the selection of Shah Faesal, the youth who hailed from the border district of Kupwara and topped the IAS in 2010. His selection was seen as a watershed development in the battered history of Kashmir vis-à-vis the opportunities its people had in the Indian system. Faesal effectively dispelled the myth that Kashmiris were people who are just a pampered lot and were happy to live on “subsidies”.

It was way back in 1969 when Mohammad Shafi Pandit became the first Kashmiri Muslim to crack the examinations. He rose to the position of Chief Secretary and later served as Chairman of the Public Service Commission. There was again a long haul until Iqbal Khandey, the current Chief Secretary made it to IAS in 1978, although another Kashmiri Muslim G R Sufi qualified for the Indian Revenue Service in 1975, through the same process. In 1982, Khurshid Ganai cracked the examination, but till 1993 there was a lull which was broken by Asgar Samoon, who qualified in Scheduled Tribe quota. He hails from the remote Gurez area near Line of Control. However, in 1994, two Kashmiris Javed Gilani and Abdul Gani Mir, made it to the Indian Police Service (IPS) and are currently serving in the state as Inspector Generals. It was in fact Mir’s initiative in the last few years, which played an important role in attracting youth towards preparing for the exams. He formed the Initiative for Competition Promotion in Jammu and Kashmir (IPCJK) for this purpose. Pandit in his capacity as PSC Chairman and later mentor of Ascent Group too contributed in shaping their minds towards this direction.
Although many Kashmiri Pandits had made it to All India Services, for Muslims it remained a taboo for a long time. The selection of Gilani and Mir in the thick of militancy was a big surprise. Both had moved out of the Valley to pursue education and then prepare for the examination. But here the atmosphere was such that even their selection would have been a major source of trouble for the families. Uncertainty on the political front had forced youngsters to confine themselves to homes and small-time jobs and routine courses in medicine or engineering.

However, it was in 2009 when Imtiaz Ismail Parrey (from Kashmir) and Shahid Iqbal Choudhary (from Rajouri in Jammu) broke the jinx after 15 years and got into IPS and IAS respectively. They set the stage for the grand “selection” of Shah Faesal and since then there has been no looking back. In the last 20 years, more than 25 Kashmiri youth have qualified for IAS and other services thus creating a huge base for their role in policymaking at the highest level. Shah Faesal does not give much credit to himself for “luring” the youth towards this prestigious service. “I don’t think so. But I guess the media coverage and newspaper-space that my success consumed, did in a certain manner help in raising awareness about the exam. Kashmiris are extremely intelligent people. My selection was just an excuse, the talent was already there”, he told this writer.

It’s not just the boys, but the girls too are fight fit when it comes to cracking this highly competitive examination. Ovesa Iqbal, a young girl from Leh in Ladakh region became the first Muslim woman to break the deadlock. She was later selected for the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). She was followed by Syed Sehrish Asgar, a medical doctor who showed an unmatched courage to fight the tough processes. She first completed her MBBS, which is otherwise considered a laborious course. Then she topped the KAS in the state, got selected for IPS in 2012 and now surprised all by getting the 21st rank in IAS this year. Ruveda Salam is another young woman from remote Kupwara district who made it to the list this year. She had also qualified for KAS two years back.

What is interesting is that most of the youth who cracked the IAS in last 20 years, have abandoned their first choice of becoming doctors and engineers. Out of the 25 selected since 1990, thirteen were medical and engineering graduates like Shah Faesal, Imtiaz and Shahid.
While there is no direct role of government in pushing these boys and girls into the elite service, in the case of Kashmir their selection becomes politically significant. The distances between Srinagar and New Delhi have increased. The volatile situation which arose from 2008 to 2010 manifested the deep sense of alienation Kashmir’s youngsters felt towards the Indian mainstream. Stone pelting by youth and their active participation in anti-India protests did highlight their level of frustration and in the aftermath of Afzal Guru’s hanging that sense was further revitalised. In that backdrop, the urge of Kashmiri youth to join the system at the highest level cannot be ignored.

One of the selected youth, however, tries to delink it from what is happening on the ground or what in other words is the reality. “I am not sure how it plays at the level of sentiments. I think all it does is to enhance our faith in the system to a certain extent. It promotes a spirit of competition and excellence in youngsters. But I would like to keep it at the level of careers only”.

Whatever the impact such selections will have on the overall situation, their presence in a system which is completely dominated by the “outsiders” will surely make a difference. With Iqbal Khandey (who is the first Kashmiri Muslim who became Chief Secretary of state after 18 years in February this year) as an exception, the top echelon of bureaucracy has hardly any Muslim officers. Getting into IAS may not change the political destiny of Kashmir but it surely places its youngsters in a competitive world which holds out more hope.

[The author can be reached at shujaat7867@gmail.com]

(Courtesy: News Laundry)

By Syed Amin Jafri

The May 5 elections in Karnataka saw the BJP being comprehensively routed and the Congress storming to power. One of the contributory factors for BJP's loss and the windfall of seats for Congress was the voting behavior of minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians. Having suffered a lot during the five-year BJP rule, these minorities were waiting for the right opportunity to punish the saffron party. However, the Muslims continue to remain under-represented in the new Assembly.

Only 11 Muslims have been elected to the 224-member House this time compared to eight in the previous Assembly. It marks some improvement but there remains a huge gap vis-a-vis the percentage of Muslims in the state's total population. Muslims account for 12.5% of the population and hence, should get no less than 28 seats. Eleven seats mean only 4.9% representation.

Muslims constituted over 15% of the electorate in 65 constituencies which comprises 29% of the 224 seats. Among these 65 constituencies, their population was over 40% in seven constituencies, 30% in 12 segments, 25% in six segments, 20% in 10 segments and over 15% in 30 constituencies. Incidentally, it is in these 65 constituencies that the BJP suffered major reverses.

In 2008, the BJP had bagged 34 out of these 65 seats but its tally dropped to 13 this time. The Congress, meanwhile, secured 35 seats, a gain of 12 seats. Janata Dal (Secular) improved its tally to nine from eight while the KJP, BSR Congress, KMP and SP shared the remaining eight seats. However, Muslim candidates won only 10 of these 65 seats compared to eight in 2008.

The Congress swept across all major regions of Karnataka and gained a significant chunk of Muslim and Christian votes. In its strongholds, the JD(S) too got Muslim votes but the success rate of its Muslim candidates was far lower than that of the Congress. Both the parties had fielded 18 Muslim candidates each but nine were elected from Congress and two from JD(S). Muslim candidates from KJP and BSRCP drew a blank. In all, a dozen Muslim contestants were runners-up in their constituencies.

The Muslim electors across Karnataka voted tactically this time, unlike in 2008 when the sharp division in votes between Congress and JD(S) had helped BJP gain a simple majority. However, in a few Muslim-dominated constituencies like Bidar, Raichur and Hebbal, the friendly fights among Muslim candidates of major parties resulted in the victory of non-Muslim nominees.

Ironically, two minority parties — Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Welfare Party of India (WPI) — fared very badly, indicating that the Muslim voters cold-shouldered them as they did not offer a viable alternative like the mainstream secular parties, Congress and JD(S).

The SDPI had fielded 24 candidates in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Except in one constituency - Narasimharaja — where it stood second, the party lost its security deposit in the remaining segments. Overall, the SDPI polled 1 lakh votes.

WPI had contested a dozen seats but it could get only 10,000 votes. All its candidates lost their deposit. Incidentally, both these parties had concentrated on minority-dominated constituencies. But they could not offer credible alternative or formidable candidates to inspire voters.

With non-Muslim candidates winning from 55 Muslim-dominated constituencies, it shows that a majority of Muslim voters support secular parties and candidates. Hence, one of lessons from Karnataka is that the minorities would vote decisively and tactically in favour of secular alternatives and against saffron outfits if they are pushed to the wall. Secondly, though the minorities vote for non-minority candidates, the mainstream parties should ensure that they are adequately represented in the Assembly by giving tickets to more Muslim and Christian candidates.

[The writer is a member of legislative council and a journalist]

(Courtesy: The Times of India)

By Melvyn Reggie Thomas

Surat: "Muslims don't enjoy much social status in Gujarat. At least 50 per cent of Muslim population is backward and live below poverty line (BPL) in the state. Here Muslims are denied pre-matric scholarships which is their right," said Strive for Eminence and Empowerment (SEE) chairman Maulana Mohammed Fazlurrahim Mujaddidi at the first-ever national conference to discuss the '21st century's socio-economic challenges' before the community on Sunday.

Maulana Mujaddidi, a cleric and member of the steering committee of Planning Commission, was addressing a mammoth gathering of Muslims from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium here. He asked community members to become educated and adopt positive thinking so as to catch up with members of other communities in the growth chart.

He said the Central Government has accepted the Sachar Committee's report on social, economical and educational status of Indian Muslims. The 12th Plan has documented the socio-economic backwardness of the community, he added.

Coming down heavily on the Narendra Modi government, Mujaddidi said, "If he (Modi) talks about six crore Gujaratis then why is it that he ignores Muslim community? Every state provides pre-matric scholarships to Muslims, except Gujarat. Implementation of welfare schemes in Gujarat, compared to other states is very poor. If Gujarat has to become a vibrant state, it has to focus on inclusive growth and include Muslims too in its plan. Muslims in Gujarat still dream about 'roti, kapda aur makaan'."

The 12th Plan document envisions one residential school similar to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in minority concentration blocks of cities and towns. At least 50 per cent student intake in these schools would be that of children belonging to the minority communities, he said.

External affairs minister Salman Khurshid said, "Only education has the power to bring about change in the socio-economic status of the community. Reservation should be given on the basis of backwardness and not religion. People should come here and see what jihad means. It is a jihad for education and for our social status."

(Courtesy: The Times of India)

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